Yash Chopra uses white in a different context in JAB TAK HAI JAAN

Probably as JAB TAK HAI JAAN was announced as being the last film to be directed by Yash Chopra he has used white in a totally different context in the film. Yash Chopra being an avid fan of Raj Kapoor was the second director after him, who used white as a colour to convey tranquility, peace, romance, placidity and above all contentment.

So, for a change, the shot to trigger romance in JTHJ, instead of the heroine serenading in white to make an entry into the heart of the hero, it is nature which has been used as a metaphor, falling snow from the sky and everything turning white and green shoots of romance start taking shape. In the same manner white has been used as a metaphor in the concluding scene of the film where Katrina Kaif appears in a white salwar suit a metaphor of having shed the inhibitions and reservations to fall in love.

It was for the first and the last time that Katrina Kaif appeared in a white dress in JTHJ and the simplicity of the moment, against the backdrop of snow-clad mountains of Kashmir that epitomized the essence of romance for which Yash Chopra was famous and would continue to be famous.

For Yash Chopra romance could happen only against the backdrop of white i.e. white landscape or the lead players being dressed in white. Though he could not create an opportunity for his lead players SRK, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma to be dressed in white to convey the spirit of romance, he used his old beacons of romance Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, dressed in all white to convey romance in JTHJ, and also serve as inspiration for the lead pair SRK and Katrina Kaif to shed all the inhibitions and soak in the ambience of love, as all else is transcendental and it is only love that is permanent.

Choice of white as a symbol of romance is indeed guided by the sheer fact that white denotes purity, and romance can prosper and develop only when there is an element of purity in the relationship. Besides, the falling snow or the cascades of raindrops falling from the sky are a manifestation of ultimate exuberance and happiness of the nature.

Yash Chopra in fact created the moment just after the song Ishq Shava where the first drops of fresh snow falling on Katrina’s face and the effect of passion that was created. As a matter of fact color white was used in JTHJ more to create an element of passion, as in the love making scene in the film where the whole ambience was all white, probably to convey the impression about the occasion that there was no sin being committed but it was a manifestation of pure love.

It would be interesting to watch whether this tradition of using white to convey romance in the world of Yash Raj films would continue to maintain its flavor in the times to come